I'm sure the regulars and even the occasional viewers of my site have
noticed a radical drop in my rants lately.I'm sure the regulars and even the occasional viewers of my site have
noticed a radical drop in my rants lately.
These past few weeks as my experience drags on and on, I have felt the weight of the armor catch up to me. I no longer carry my shield high, my mace at the ready, but instead drag them along the ground behind me, my head hung low.
'Why am I like this?' I think to myself. 'Why does this seem more chore than fun?'
Over the past month my weekly time in EQ has dropped from an average of probably 40+ hours a week down to maybe a dozen.
I find myself often cruising the web for info on Neverwinter Nights, Freelancer, Tribes 2, or other such things instead of playing.
Mind you this partly has to do with the chaotic instability that is my life of late, but I think there are other more permanent reasons.
In fact of late I find more joy in 15 minutes of reading a new piece of info on either than in an entire day of play in Norrath.
Summary / Solution / Truth
I've always said EverQuest is the same now, as it was on Day 1. The goal of the game is very clearly; Kill, Rest, Repeat.
However, for the longest time we, the now minority of players, were fooled. They promised more. They promised Role Playing. They gave us events and fully encouraged player interaction to make the world more than it is.
And it really is a world. You can do or be anything you want.
However, the basis of that world is still that you gain power and status by one simple thing; Kill, Rest, Repeat.
Quests are far too difficult or time consuming to bother to complete. Plat becomes meaningless the more time that goes on. Item harvesting and twinking is commonplace on the older servers.
Those of us who wanted more I think hung on for the longest time to that dream that some day EQ would grow beyond that. That these 'quests' would evolve beyond 'go to npc A, get tab A, wait for slot B to spawn', but they haven't.
The sad truth of it is, EverQuest was what D&D was in it's very infancy. Way back when Role Playing was still an unknown quantity, and people stuck to what they knew and understood, the combat.
However, it's many many years later than that now, and the genera of Role Playing has evolved far beyond that. What makes true Role Playing really great is not the accumulation of item x, but the interaction between the characters. The reasons behind why they band together. Their struggle together using each others strengths to become more than they were.
I was in a multi player game of Vampire for a few weeks ago. The Storyteller was saying we had to go kill a Werewolf. I, being human, asked why. His reply was 'well he's been bad, he's killed a bunch of people, so you have to go kill him.' To which my reply was 'how do we know he did so unjustly?'
Suffice to say that continued in the same manner for 5 minutes and I eventually left. That was some good Role Playing. Though I chose not to join the adventure, it was 100% within that characters motivation to not do so. I haven't done anything like that with Dark since he was probably about 20 th level. It just doesn't happen. EQ isn't designed for it, nor will it ever be. EQ has always been about forced grouping, yet giving no encouraging reason to do so. There is racism, but not racial differences. Do we really know the history of the Dark Elves? Is class x of race y any different than class x of race z? No. There is little to no motivation for that difference. And certainly no racial background to say 'wow look at how that race is so much better at x instead of that one. That other one could never even conceive of that.'
My thoughts have always strayed to more than EQ has been. New games are promising to be more. To be that experience I, and so many others clung to so long for, preying EQ would become. But it won't.
My thoughts of late stray to a new life in Neverwinter Nights. They stray to a time when I can once again actually have a character. That I will be known for my deeds and actions, not the equipment I wear. A time when I am actually given a reason to do something, and can barter around that.
Will Neverwinter Nights succeed where Vampire failed? Will it elevate the genera to true Role Playing from it's now hack-n-slash infancy?
Only time will tell. Until then, I'll pick up a copy of third Edition D&D. I recall my youth of Pen and Paper Gaming. Nights where I'd think up games for what my group of friends would do next. Scheming up reasons to torment or delight them. Motivation for a character I am playing, or a villain in a game I am running.
Emotional motivation of your character has always been the backbone of true Role Playing. And though I'm not leaving EQ just yet, it is by no means fooling me anymore.
I wish those well who choose to stay. And welcome those Role Players who choose to follow me. Rest assured you will see me in NWN, and that my identity and server will be posted.